Simon Field | Classic tawny color, modest fade, impressive legs and a generous warmth; nutmeg, spice, pepper, and hints of white pepper, mature wild strawberry and a hint of Cointreau, courtesy of the spirit... The palate is broad, careless of structural intent, and maybe this is the redeeming feature, given the venerable age and the incipient spicy intensity. A little anonymous on the finish, for all that. The alcohol is a touch domineering here... | 88

Andrew Jefford | Light, but has plenty of depth and brightness to the deep garnet-red hue; attractive red glints, too. Warm, creamy aromas: a dish of warm semolina into which you have stirred a spoonful of strawberry jam. Attractive but rather simple, in other words, though very forthcoming. With time, you can find a note of incense spice in this wine. On the palate, the wine is vivid, full, sweet, with a succulence that few of the other ’77s have. It also has some depth on the palate as well as a glycerous fullness. There are some meaty complexities, and flavors if not textures derived from the tannins. One of the best of its cohort, though it is not a Vintage Port of great complexity, for all that. | 91

Richard Mayson | Good mid-deep color, attractive, open, floral character on the nose, violets with a hint of dark- chocolate intensity; lovely, firm, fresh-berry fruit on the palate, supported by firm tannins, rising in the mouth, a bit bony in terms of structure— that is, lacking a bit of flesh—but overall a rather lovely wine retaining some primacy, for drinking now and over the next decade or so. | 90